1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a brake control apparatus of a vehicle, and more particularly to a brake control apparatus of a vehicle to electrically control either the electric power or the hydraulic pressure by detecting the amount of brake-pedal operation by means of electric signals, and thus to generate either a braking force or an assisting force corresponding to the amount of brake-pedal operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a variety of brake control apparatuses have been studied in which a braking force demanded by the driver is calculated from electric signals corresponding to the amount of the driver's depressing amount of a brake pedal, and the demanded braking force is generated through electrical control. One of the problems that are common to all these brake control apparatuses is that, when the driver demands, while the vehicle is not moving, a braking force that is larger than necessary to keep the vehicle stationary, an excessive braking force is generated, which in turn results in a wasteful electric-power consumption and heat generation.
Various ways of reducing such wasteful electric power consumption and heat generation have been proposed. For example, according to the method disclosed in JP Published Patent Application No. 2001-18769, when it is determined that the vehicle is stationary, a braking force generated by a means for braking is controlled to the level of a predetermined reference braking force irrespective of the amount of the driver's depressing amount of a brake pedal.
In addition, JP Published Patent Application No. 2002-213507 discloses an electric braking apparatus used for braking the vehicle.